


White Rose

by yangji



Series: Some Birds Aren't Meant to Be Caged [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, FF import, Neji's Birthday, Tender - Freeform, nejihina - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 11:51:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20275468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yangji/pseuds/yangji
Summary: A white rose stands for innocence, devotion, and silence.





	White Rose

**Author's Note:**

> Originally Written: August 24th, 2013

Hizashi grunted softly as he lowered himself to his knees, now eye level with his four-year-old son. Reaching out, he corrected the fold of his son’s white obi, commenting to Neji how he had to look his absolute best that day.

“Why is that, Father?” Large, pale eyes looked up at Hizashi in curiosity.

There was a moment’s hesitation. Yes, Neji undoubtedly knew of the mark carried by the Branch House. He had reveled in tracing the strange green mark on his father’s forehead with his tiny fingers, and “improving” it, as Neji called it, with his own drawings of stick figured shinobi.

“Today you will receive the mark of the Branch House, Neji,” Hizashi finally offered, unwilling or scared – he wasn’t sure which – to reveal to his son the true meaning of the Cursed Seal.

Hizashi could not help but laugh at his son’s reaction. The four-year-old was grinning from ear to ear, finger tracing an imaginary green seal on his own forehead in anticipation.

“Father! What are we waiting for! We shouldn’t be late!” Neji began to tug on his father’s hand still fiddling with his obi.

Hizashi let out another laugh and stood up. “Of course not, Neji. Let us go.”

The two left quickly, at Neji’s consistent urging, to the large common area of the Hyuuga compound to celebrate the Hyuuga heir’s third birthday and to seal Neji’s fate.

* * *

Neji sniffled, wiping stray tears from his face with the black sleeves of his kimono. To think that not even an hour ago he had been excited to receive the Branch House mark; but his father had not told him that it would hurt, sear as the Head of the Hyuuga Clan tattooed a special green ink into his skin. Though his face had numbed less than halfway through the ceremony, the pain was returning as a persistent ache that was growing in intensity.

To hide his tears from his father, Neji had hidden away in the garden until he was sure he wouldn’t cry anymore. Because of the birthday celebrations for his cousin, he hadn’t expected anyone to find him, especially the birthday girl herself.

“A-are you crying?” A soft voice called out from behind Neji where he was crouched under the withered remains of a rose bush.

“N-no!” he replied obstinately, rubbing at his face again before he stood and turned to face his cousin. For a moment he paused; he hadn’t gotten this close to her all day as everyone else fawned over her and he could see that his earlier deduction was right: his cousin was very cute.

“O-oh, well… F-Father mentioned that it could be p-painful to get the Branch mark, s-so I brought this…” Hinata held out her hand where she held a small, circular compact. “M-Mother always put these on my ouchies.”

Neji rubbed his face again, but this time to hide the blush that dared to creep onto his cheeks. Despite his embarrassment, he removed the thin strip of gauze wrapped around his forehead. The dry, brown grass beneath them crackled as the two sat down and Hinata opened the medical compact. Her tiny fingers traced the balm over the angry green and red mar, calming the ache with a cooling sensation. Not until she had finished applying the balm did Neji open his eyes to see his cousin staring curiously at the mark on his forehead.

He felt a blush rising to his cheeks again and looked away toward the wilting rose bush. A blob of white hidden between the bare branches and thorns caught his eye. A white rose, half of its petals beiged with age and crumpled around the center hung precariously to its branch.

Eagerly, Neji reached into the branches, biting his lower lip as several thorns scraped against his skin. But he managed to pull the withered flower from inside its thorny cave and turned to Hinata.

“Here!” he mumbled to her roughly. Noticing her jump at the tone of his voice, he coughed to clear his throat, thinking of what to say. “It’s for… your birthday. Happy Birthday, Hinata.”

Hinata took the wilted white rose from her cousin with a large smile. Neji felt a blush rising again, but he wasn’t sure why.

“Thank you, nii-san!” Hinata stared down at the rose in wonder, barely touching the white petals until she looked at him again. “B-but your hand…”

Red stained his cheeks again as she applied the salve to the small nicks on his hand, their small, soft hands warm in each other’s grasp.

* * *

"Hinata-sama.”

Hinata tucked a lock of her long, dark hair behind her ear as she looked up at her cousin. She and Neji had agreed to meet at the Hyuuga training grounds for a light sparring session but she had arrived early when her team meeting was canceled.

“Hello, Neji-nii-san.” Hinata set a large, leather bound book beside her pack as she stood to meet him. Wordlessly, they walked to the middle of the training ground and took their perspective stances.

An hour later, doubled over and clutching her stomach, Hinata looked up at her cousin with a smile that he gently returned. Every day she was improving, he noted as he stopped to catch his own breath.

“Why don’t we take a break for lunch now?”

Hinata nodded and they walked back to the tree that she had been sitting under earlier. Opening her pack, she started to lay out the bento that she routinely made for their sparring sessions but stopped with a sudden cry of surprise.

“Ah, I’m sorry nii-san, I forgot your soba. I’ll go get it.” Without waiting for him to reply, Hinata ran toward the kitchens, the ends of her hair quickly disappearing as she rounded the corner.

Neji frowned in faint concern. It was quite unlike Hinata to forget anything, especially the main part of their lunch, but he shrugged the oddity off and began to open the different bento in front of him. When he opened the container with the herring soba that Hinata had supposedly forgotten, he started to worry again, confused as to why exactly she had left and still not returned.

It was then that the book lying beside the soba bento caught his eye. He instantly recognized young Hinata’s childish script on the cover, _Flowers_. Curious, he picked the book up and turned to the first page; a blazing red, pressed amaryllis and several other pressed flowers were all that were inside. Aside from their names scribbled at the bottom of each page, in varying childish and more refined handwriting, there were no other words on the pages. As he reached the last page, a flower slipped down the spine of the book and into his lap; a half withered white rose.

“Nii-san, here it is.” Neji’s head snapped up quickly in surprise. He hadn’t heard his cousin’s return due to the blood pounding in his ears. The heat of it seared his cheeks.

Hinata held a large, fully bloomed white rose in her hand.

“Happy Birthday, Neji.”


End file.
